A lot of people use their smartphones routinely to take pictures (there’s even a stock photo agency specializing in this). There’s nothing wrong with this considering that most smartphones are equipped with decent cameras. Given the popularity of photo apps for the iOS and Android, it’s pretty easy to see why more and more people are getting into phoneotography.

One problem that crops up commonly among phone camera users, is poor lighting. If you’ve ever used your iPhone to take a picture, then you know that image quality improves tremendously when you’ve got better lighting. Take a shot in a poorly-lit place, and you’ll end up with a grainy image that’s not really good for anything. Better lighting also makes for capturing shots littered with artistic license and effects.

So this project on Kickstarter called The Kick my be just what you need.

As its project page claims, it’s basically a pocket sized lighting studio so you can take awesome-looking photos and videos. It especially excels in animated light and comes with built-in effects like Fire, Lightning Storm and Cannon shots.

The Kick isn’t only an app; it comes with its own gear, too. Here’s basically how it works in a nutshell:

With the Kick and the Kick App you can also sample light effects from any video stored on your iPhone. Or simply sample light straight from the iPhone camera, while you use it. Just point the iPhone towards the light effect you want the Kick to recreate, tap the screen – and the Kick will emit that light!

The Kick app comes with a color picker, so you can choose what color light you want the Kick to emit for your shots. The entire thing has been in development for the last 2.5 years, and all the developers need at this point is the funds to turn it into a reality.

You can head on over to its project page on Kickstarter to find out more or support the project, if you want. A minimum pledge of $99 will get you your very own Kick system to play around with.